Review: CCI .22LR Velocitor CPHP

While .22 isn’t a round we spend a lot of time shooting, it was a joy to have a reason to bring the Marlin 781 .22 bolt action rifle and Ruger .22 auto pistol out of the safe. It’s hard to recall when we had this much fun with 40gr ammo.

CCI’s velocitor is a 40 grain, 1435 FPS, copper-plated hollow point. That’s a fairly hot round with a large mass that produces roughly 183 ft-lbs of energy at the muzzle.

The round retains energy fairly well with velocities of 1230 at 50 yards, 1149 at 75 yards and 1084 at 100 yards. That would yeild energies of 134, 117, and 104 ft-lbs respectively.

The Marlin is my boyhood plinker. No optics, I learned to be a good rifleman the hard way “stick in the notch, stick on the target, breath, relax, aim, slack, squeeze” – as taught by a Marine Scout Sargent (father), expert marksman hunter (grandfather) and Naval officer (other grandfather). That rifle has been mine since I was ten and as surprising as it may seem, was bought by.. my mother.

Lucky Gunner sent 100 rounds (50 rounds in each of 2 boxes). We decided to run it through a bolt action rifle for long range and a .22 auto to learn how CCIs hot plinking round would cycle.

CCI Velocitor @100yards iron sites

I know, .22LR isn’t sexy. But you have to understand – cheap/box store crap .22 is not only not sexy.. it doesn’t always work. CCI is NOT that stuff and Lucky Gunner is NOT that box store!

We put 50 rounds through the Marlin first. You should understand that the rifle probably hadn’t been fired in more than 15 years. It had been lovingly oiled and put back in the safe every spring since then, but not taken out to the range – so the guy behind it was a little worried that it (or he) might not be quite up to the task – I was wrong.

We put the Marlin on a simple rest and took open site shots at 100 yards (image left). Every round went off, every round went to battery, and every round was accurate. The bigger problem was the 40+ year old behind the rifle trying to see open sites with older eyes. Perhaps now we learn why the no-optic rifle has been sitting in the safe??

Next we set up the Rugar .22LR auto at 15 yards. Standard NRA target and let loose. We pushed 50 rounds through the gun and not one single hollow-point failed to go to battery, fire or eject.

I have shot my fair share of discount store .22 ammo – ok, and other calibers/gauges – and this didn’t act like any of them. 100 rounds of .22 LR without a single fail to fire, fail to eject or fail to go to battery is something the cheapies struggle with. CCI has an accurate varmint round that shoots flatter than expected and will likely hit the target a little faster, a little harder and a fraction sooner than you would think.

In cleaning the guns after the shoot, it was obvious that the Velocitor is also a very clean shooting round. Two patches with oil were enough to clean the rifle and about the same for the pistol.

CCI Velocitor @15yards Ruger auto

The fact that it’s a hollow point is an added bonus. Once it hits the intended target it will do more damage than it’s standard counterparts.